Edith Wharton
Jun. 26th, 2015 06:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotAfter months of putting it to one side, I finally finished The Custom of the Country. I'm not totally sure when it's set - if it was meant to end contemporaneously to publication or start there or what - but it would make a smashing adaptation, I think, if it were set:
- late 1860s for flashbacks to Apex
- early First Bustle for Undine's New York City career
- waists descend as her marriage gets stifling and she leaves
- elegant early Natural Form with trains and all for Paris and her next marriage
- late Natural Form for St. Desert and leaving with Elmer
- Second Bustle for being married to Elmer at the very end
I'm not totally sure if the dates would work out, you'd probably be compressing a bit here and stretching a bit there, but it would be so gorgeous. Though I guess you could also do Second Bustle flashbacks, early 1890s for New York, big sleeves for leaving and Paris, late 1890s St. Desert, and early 1900s Elmer ... but I love that contrast you get with the earlier periods. It makes the whole thing feel more jangly and frenetic.
- late 1860s for flashbacks to Apex
- early First Bustle for Undine's New York City career
- waists descend as her marriage gets stifling and she leaves
- elegant early Natural Form with trains and all for Paris and her next marriage
- late Natural Form for St. Desert and leaving with Elmer
- Second Bustle for being married to Elmer at the very end
I'm not totally sure if the dates would work out, you'd probably be compressing a bit here and stretching a bit there, but it would be so gorgeous. Though I guess you could also do Second Bustle flashbacks, early 1890s for New York, big sleeves for leaving and Paris, late 1890s St. Desert, and early 1900s Elmer ... but I love that contrast you get with the earlier periods. It makes the whole thing feel more jangly and frenetic.
